Two things. The morning was a visit to the Body Worlds exhibit at the California Science Center. The second was Viet's birthday party. There was a third thing and a fourth thing too, but those weren't picture-taking opportunities. Come to think of it, pictures weren't allowed inside Body Worlds either.

Body Worlds. Literally, an exhibit of the human body. They break it down into individual systems so it's not too shocking for the unwashed masses. There is also an IMAX movie, but due to time constraints we missed that.

The skeletal system comes first, with both whole skeletons and individual segements to show off joints, bone construction, the inner ear bone structure, etc. This is repeated for tendons and ligaments, muscles, the nervous system and the brain, the circulatory system, organs, skin, and the reproductive system. Then at the end you get whole body slices, so you have time to adjust to the what the exhibit is showing you.

The most dramatic effects were in presentation. Specimens were presented in several poses to emphasize the placement and location of various muscles, bones, and other parts. The interconnections of parts of the body, points where many connections are made, and the interaction of systems with other parts such as the body walls (abdominal wall, the body wall itself, skin, etc.) were dramatic. They showed artifical joints, surgical repairs to bones, as well as brain strokes, lung damage from smoking, arterial damage, liver damage from alcohol, and lots of other things, too. (note to self: drag my friends who smoke excessively and drink excessively to this exhibit.) After the reproductive organs, they had a section on embryos and fetuses, which was walled off for the squeamish. That was simply presented but dramatic all the same.

The very end of the exhibit had a series of full body slices, how they plastinated the bodies, and the infamous man riding a horse.

Major "poses" they had done were a runner, a chess player, a swimmer, a cyclist, a man holding his own skin (!), a circulatory system display with a man/woman/child, a teacher...

Definitely very interesting, and worth seeing. Sophia and I followed behind a pair of physical therapists (students?) for a while; their commentary was very insightful as well, especially for this non-physiological-science dork over here. The exhibit itself is spread among 2 levels. We got sidetracked after finishing the first floor part by the sight/sound/smell exhibits on the 2nd floor, which is where most of the pictures are from. The smell of crayons, talcium powder, garlic, and other surprises awaited us, as well as perception tricks and stuff. Fun! We might go back just to play with those things alone. =)

Afterwards we dropped Sophia off, while Sherry, David, Alicia, Rex and I had Korean BBQ for lunch. On our way out, we ran into a group from Ars Technica who we were originally plannng to go with. We aborted that plan after seeing that the timing wouldn't work out, but what was very surprising was that the Ars guys were over an hour late from their planned meeting time. =P

The next major thing was Viet's birthday. It was supposed to be a potluck with drinking, and it was. Cheston, Ray, Todd, Thomas, Farhana, Anne, Kim, and a bunch of others showed up. Food was very yummy... but the main entertainment of the night was charades. 2 hours of charades, maybe more. I know by the time I got there it was already started! =P Some of the people there were good guessers and very good charades players. I give them many props for keeping me sober with their good guesses at my pathetic acting ability.

After 2 hours, I had to go outside and take a break, and deal with stuff like an article I have due for Ars before I lost all vestiges of my sobriety. *grins* Cheston and Viet consistently stacked the charades pot, though. That was... interesting. Particularly how perverted they kept getting. hee hee hee hee...

Stuck just playing charades didn't make too much picture material, though. Neither did some stuff earlier in the day and later in the day. Between Bodyworlds and Viet's was running to Monterey Park with Sophia and her family to grab cell phones over at Phone House. The usual sweet deals abounded, although the paperwork hit a few snags, as always. Dinner was MVP Seafood off Garvey, which was a new place to me. 2 pounds of prawns, fried tofu, and other goodies. Thanks Mrs. Tsai!

After Viet's birthday it was time to hang out with Barry for a bit. Alex was bored too, so she drove down. We tried to remember how to play billards and just hung around. Or in my case, was grateful I wasn't continuing to take shots (had I been at Viet's). =P Barry at least had a decent imitation of how to play pool. I, uh, had my usual highly marginal attempt at how to play pool. We never decided if Alex was a pool shark or not.

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